ORNL reactor technology might provide power in U.S. within 15 to 20 years - News - Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN - Oak Ridge, TN

ORNL reactor technology might provide power in U.S. within 15 to 20 years - News - Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN - Oak Ridge, TN: By mid-century in the United States, many existing nuclear power plants, mostly aging water-cooled reactors, will be shut down. Lou Qualls would like to see them replaced by passively safe, salt-cooled and salt-fueled reactors based on the molten salt reactor (MSR) technology developed in the 1950s and '60s at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.